Frontiers
by Newromantic
Summary: Heaven Knows No Frontiers, And I've Seen Heaven In Your Eyes.


Disclaimer: Consider my claimer officially dis'd.  
  
A/N: This would be me completely disregarding any spoilers for season seven in regards to…well, let's just say I'm ignoring season seven despite the fact that this story is set right at the end of it.  
  
Warning: This story is fluff. Pure, unadulterated sap.  
  
Frontiers  
  
*****'When all will harmonise  
  
And know what's in our hearts  
  
The dream we'll realise  
  
Heaven knows no frontiers  
  
And I've seen heaven in your eyes.'  
  
Mary Black: No Frontiers*****  
  
As they walked towards the elevator together, fingertips barely brushing against the others hand and the silence as companionable as an old married couple, Jack stopped suddenly.  
  
Sam followed suit, turning in surprise to regard her almost-no-longer-C.O. "Sir?" She asked more out of habit than any lingering military respect.  
  
Jack frowned slightly, apparently deep in thought before staring quizzically into Carter's eyes. "This fishing trip…" he began uncertainly and seeing his inner turmoil, Sam gently placed her hand on his arm, nodding her encouragement.  
  
O'Neill stared at the point of their connection for a moment and, as if the contact alone had given him renewed strength, he took a deep breath. "We're not just gonna fish, are we?" he asked nervously as a gentle smile appeared on the Major's face; a smile that turned into a hundred-watt grin as he continued.   
  
"I mean, we are going to have sex, right?"  
  
Timing being everything, the elevator doors opened at just the right moment for a lone-riding lieutenant to hear the almost retired Colonel propositioning his second-in-command and, after the requisite nodding, saluting, bowing and genuflecting required by a low ranking officer when confronted with not one but *two* superior officers, he hightailed it to the commissary to claim his rightful place as the all-seeing, all-knowing God of Gossip.  
  
Not at all put-off by the road-runner like exit of the retreating officer, Jack and Sam stepped into the lift together and waited.  
  
And waited…  
  
And waited…  
  
And waited.  
  
"You need to swipe your pass if you want the doors to close, Sir." Sam said after a moment.  
  
Jack glared at the Major. "I'm aware of that thank you," he replied shortly. "And if you'd been paying attention during my briefing you'd have noticed I handed it over to the General along with my office keys and I.D."  
  
Sam coloured slightly. "Right," she murmured, giving herself a mental slap as she swiped her own pass through the slot and placed it back in her rear pocket. "You do realise that you should have kept all that for a few weeks yet?" she continued sweetly. "After all, you're not due to leave for another month.  
  
"Yeah," Jack sighed dramatically. "But I was making a point. Y'know, visual representations and all…"  
  
"Oh." Sam nodded her head in understanding. "Well it was very dramatic." She replied kindly.  
  
"Yeah, I thought so."  
  
Conversation ceased for a time and both Colonel and Major watched the floor numbers change as they rose towards the surface. Sam played a game in her head where she added the numbers together then challenged herself to dividing the result by pi before the doors opened and Jack…well, Jack tried to associate them with their bingo calls.  
  
Two little ducks…  
  
Finally they reached the surface and wandered over to the guard post to sign out. "Colonel?" the duty guard called as the pair headed towards the exit. Jack spun on his heel.   
  
"Yeah?"  
  
The guard opened a drawer under his desk and pulled out a thin strip of plastic. He then walked over to where the Colonel was stood waiting. "Your security-pass sir," he said politely. "The general said he didn't want to give it back in the briefing in case he ruined your moment so he asked me to hand it over when you leave."  
  
If he were embarrassed at all he certainly didn't show it. "Thanks," he said absently as he pocketed the pass and headed out into the car park with a sniggering Major tagging along behind.  
  
"You find something amusing Major?" Jack asked sternly as they reached his truck.  
  
"Yessir," Sam replied cheekily as her eyes met his in unspoken defiance. A lesser mortal would have spontaneously combusted under the fiery glare the Colonel was now producing. But Carter, having come to learn, appreciate and, in some cases even adore his variety of expressions, could read her CO like a proverbial book and there was no way in hell this particular look was going to faze her.  
  
"You can't intimidate me sir," Carter continued, her smile growing impossibly wider and Jack glared for a moment longer; apparently unsure as to whether or not that was a good thing.   
  
Finally decided it was, his stern frown morphed into a slight smile and soon enough his disapproving glare turned into something altogether much more smoky and vibrant.  
  
She was too close. He could see the flecks of gold in her blue eyes, he could smell the heady scent of feminine shampoo in her hair and the remnants of body spray that never failed to overwhelm his senses whenever he walked into the locker room, having been foolish enough to let her use the showers first. The air around him seemed to thicken so that it became a struggle to breath.  
  
Sam noticed the change in atmosphere almost immediately and her wide-eyed grin faltered, her breath catching in her throat as she saw the first tell-tale flickers of heat in the Colonel's eyes. The world around them seemed to melt away until all that was left were two people, leaning casually against a truck with an invisible barrier between them.  
  
The restrained proximity became too much for the both of them and Jack felt the sudden, overwhelming need for some form of physical contact.   
  
Slowly, painfully slowly, he inched his hand along the side of the truck, fingertips gliding with relative ease over cold metal and chipped paint until he was within an inch of touching Sam's trembling fingers. Without breaking eye contact he allowed himself to take just a tiny step closer, leaving her plenty of space and time to fight or take flight.  
  
She did neither.  
  
Instead, she lifted one shaking hand a placed it with tenderness on the side of his face, cupping his cheek and marvelling in the strength she found just by touching him. She could feel his jaw muscles tense under her tentative caress and she watched with some degree of satisfaction as his eyes grew wide with surprise at the unexpected contact, before darkening until the brown of his irises became almost black with emotion.  
  
They both knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was the wrong place and the wrong time for such an inappropriate gesture, but to Sam it seemed fitting somehow. After all, this sort of thing only ever seemed to happen at the most inopportune moments; on a Goa'uld ship, for example, or locked behind rusty bars in a dungeon somewhere, just waiting for her body to melt into nothing but water.  
  
The sound of voices approaching disturbed the heated moment between them and blinking furiously, Sam reluctantly drew her gaze away from the Colonel and looked absently over to where the sound was emanating from. Both Major and Colonel groaned inwardly as they saw Janet and Daniel walking quickly towards them.  
  
Jack took a step sideways to put a little more space between them and plastered a smile on his face as he turned to greet the doctors. "Hey Daniel, Doc," he said with forced enthusiasm as they stopped in front of the officers.  
  
"Colonel, Sam," Janet replied genially. "You off home?"  
  
Sam made to answer but unfortunately for all those involved, Jack got there first. "No!" he yelped rather too loudly, then made to amend his statement with a furious blush and a panicky "well, yeah, but not together or anything. What I mean is she's coming with me, but not coming *home* with me. I…ah, crap."   
  
Daniel grinned as he watched his friend blushing slightly; his eyes staring furiously at the floor. "Smooth, Jack," the archaeologist teased. "Real smooth."  
  
"What the Colonel meant to say was that he's giving me a ride home tonight," Sam interjected before the situation could get any worse. "My cars in the shop," she added by way of an explanation.  
  
It was obvious that Daniel was about to say something more, but a sharp jab in the ribs with Janet's elbow put an immediate halt to any more joking. "Well, I need to get home and feed the beast," Janet smiled as she shot the cowering archaeologist a withering look.  
  
"Janet!" Sam admonished. "That's not a nice thing to call your daughter!"  
  
The CMO grinned amiably at her friend. "Have you spoken to her lately? She's a time bomb waiting to go off!" Sighing, she continued, "I really should have given more thought to the perils of teenage hormone levels when I took her on."  
  
"You're not regretting it, are you?" Jack asked with undisguised concern. Sam glanced down at the floor trying to hide her smile. It was times like these when she loved this man more than ever. It was so rare to see him show any kind of weakness, but children…no matter how evil they were as teenagers, always managed to find a comfortable place in his heart.  
  
Janet laughed and shook her head. "I wouldn't change a thing," she replied and Sam caught a glance of the Colonels tense muscles relax once more.   
  
Realising that her emotions were getting the better of her, Sam looked back up at her friends and murmured "It's getting late, Sir. We'd better head off."   
  
"Since when did you care about the time Sam?" Daniel asked incredulously. "I don't think I've ever seen you leave before eleven."  
  
Sam smiled mirthlessly. "Funny," she said, her voice laced with sarcasm. "As a matter of fact I'm going away for a few days and I need to pack."  
  
That piqued Janet's interest. "Where are you going?" she asked in surprise. "I was hoping you'd come shopping with Cassandra and me on Saturday. She needs a prom dress."  
  
Jack recognised an opportunity to change the subject and grimaced animatedly. "Already? Geez. Where'd the time go?"  
  
Sam looked up at her CO and smiled. "Don't let her hear you say that sir." She said with a laugh. "As far as she's concerned she should have been allowed to vote the moment she hit puberty."  
  
Janet grinned. "Right now she's going through that 'I'm almost an adult and therefore you should treat me like one' phase," she said as Daniel groaned in response. "Although her temper tantrums can still rival that of a four year old and she's worryingly addicted to watching cartoons on Saturday mornings."  
  
Satisfied that the subject had been suitably changed, Sam opened the passenger door to the Colonels truck and climbed in. "Tell Cassie if she can wait a week I'd love to come along," she said to Janet as Jack moved to climb in beside her and started the engine.  
  
The doctor nodded in response and both she and Daniel waved slightly as the truck pulled away into the night. "Sam never did tell us where she was going," Daniel said after a moment.  
  
"Yeah, I noticed." The doctor replied with a slight smile. "It's a trick of hers. She has this ability to distract your attention without you even realising she's doing it."  
  
Yeah, I've seen her do it," Daniel said as they began walking towards Janet's car. "It's become an invaluable resource off world when Jack puts his foot in his mouth."  
  
"And how often does that happen?" Janet asked, already knowing the answer.  
  
"Every mission."  
  
----------------------------  
  
Sam twiddled with the dialler on the radio for a few moments, finally settling on a talk show discussing the pros and cons of giving trial drugs to babies. This was a subject that had been on the top of the 'major discussions' list for a few years and, Sam was certain, would continue to be for some time to come.  
  
They both listened in comfortable silence for a few moments as a woman from somewhere in Colorado outlined her opinions on whether she would agree to let doctors try out new vaccines on her baby. "I just don't like the idea of allowing doctors to give my child a drug that may not be one hundred percent safe," she said to the host. "If it was for me, then maybe I could do it, but as it is, I value the life of my baby too much to put her at any kind of risk."  
  
"So are you saying you don't value your life as much as your daughters?" the DJ asked in surprise.  
  
"It's not about that," the woman replied quickly. "I just think that as a parent I can't risk making a potentially life-threatening decision for my baby when there's another option available."  
  
Sam smiled slightly at what the woman said and Jack glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "You agree?" he asked neutrally, breaking the silence.   
  
She looked at him. "I don't know," she replied honestly. "I can't put myself in her place. I'm not a parent."  
  
"And if you were?"  
  
Surprise registered on her face for a moment and unbidden images of little versions of Jack O'Neill came into her mind. She shook her head, trying to dispel the picture. "I really don't know," she said with a shrug.  
  
Jack nodded and silence reigned once again as they listened to opposing opinions from a retired professor of paediatrics. Jack seemed drawn in by the conversations on the radio, but Sam's mind was back with the white picket fence and two-point-four children.  
  
"I want a baby," she blurted out after a moment and Jack twisted the steering wheel in surprise, causing the truck to careen over to the other lane before he righted himself and slowed to a stop in a lay-by.  
  
He put on his hazard lights and turned off the engine, cutting off the noise from the radio and turned to look at her. "You wanna run that by me again?" he asked, his heart beating a little faster than normal.  
  
A faint tinge of red appeared high on Sam's cheekbones and she continued to stare straight ahead, absently watching cars shoot past. "Someday," she said slowly, thinking carefully about every word before saying what she so desperately wanted to tell him, "when I'm done saving the planet and can finally relax a little, I'd like to have a baby."  
  
Jack blinked. "Yeah, that's what I thought you said," he murmured with a grim smile. He waited a beat, trying to keep his voice steady. "And just who are you going to have this baby with?"  
  
All it took was a quick exchange of glances and he immediately understood. With a huge, shit-eating grin he started the engine and pulled back on to the freeway. The radio was turned back on and apparently the MMR discussion had ended.  
  
After a thirty minute stop-off at Sam's house to pack and a five minute call in at Jacks they were on their way once again. To Minnesota.   
  
To fish.  
  
Sam hummed along quietly to the song being played, her mind already working out the fine details of their future together, whilst vaguely registering through her adrenaline come-down that she could say with all honesty she had never been happier.  
  
No more subterfuge, no more excuses. A pre-retirement trip to the cabin, just to get a taste of things to come. A future together filled with children and Jack O'Neill. No more Goa'uld, no more life-threatening situations, no more frontiers to cross and conquer.  
  
Definitely a future to look forward to.  
  
The End 


End file.
